- March 28, 2024
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Town officials are watching hopefully two requests for state funding this legislative season and waiting to see if they wind their way through to the final budget, approved by Gov. Ron DeSantis, probably by June.
As part of an update on the town’s top-priority projects at a recent Town Commission workshop, Town Manager Tom Harmer and Town Attorney Maggie Mooney said funding to further the town’s study of sea-level rise's effects and the town smart-city fiber network ultimately could depend on avoiding the cuts of the governor’s line-item veto.
The town is seeking $142,000 from the state to complete phase two of its study of sea-level rise’s possible effects on town infrastructure. Already complete is a survey of the town’s storm-water facilities, and an “atlas” of that data is expected soon. The pending funding would help pay for a similar examination of seawall and dock elevations town wide to complete the second phase. Further planning is coming together for Phase 3, which involves adaptation strategies for town facilities.
Harmer said the town would explore other funding sources if the state appropriation requests fail.
About $2 million also has been sought from the state to help pay for the town’s goal of becoming an integrated smart city, through its fiber installation and its multi-function smart-city light poles.
“We’re asking the state legislature to recognize all of the town’s efforts to make its barrier island the first coastal barrier island to fully integrate fiber and really be ahead of the curve in seeking advancements in 5G and becoming a fully integrated municipality,’’ Mooney said.
Mooney said such factors as storm resiliency, technological advancement, infrastructure connectivity and filling gaps in cell service all serve a public good. “We believe, based on our lobbyist, that there’s lots of boxes we’re checking,’’ in terms of getting the request through to fruition.
The first step is getting the requests into the initial phase of the budget, and that appears successful. According to a report from David Ramba of town lobbyist Ramba Consulting, the $142,000 request appears in the House version of the proposed budget, and the lobbyist anticipates it will be similarly included in the Senate version. The Senate budgeted $1.5 million for the smart-cities project, and Ramba anticipates the House accepting the same figure while negotiations continue for the full $2 million.
“We have a couple of hurdles to still get through,’’ Mooney said. The Senate budget totals $92.8 billion with the House budget comes in at $91.3 billion.
Town Commissioners held a retreat in April, 2019 to hear about nearly 40 town projects and prioritize the most important, resulting in a list of seven issues.
Underground utilities and fiber integration was one of the seven and another was the study of sea-level rise effects.
The other five, and where they stand now:
Permitting and construction of the outdoor venue/Town Center site: In addition to the planning and earth-moving work related to the initial plans for the venue, survey cards have been developed to distribute at the Chamber of Commerce’s monthly Savor the Sounds events at the Town Center to help learn more about what residents wish to see next on the site. On March 13, a public forum will be held with a facilitator to further seek opinions on what kind of permanent facilities might be desired, with the goal of delivering concepts back to commissioners for further consideration.
Advocate for implementation of projects developed in the Barrier Island Traffic Study: The town is working with Florida Department of Transportation and the city of Sarasota to implement pedestrian managers in St. Armands Circle. The town is also working with the Metropolitan Planning Organization to implement as many of its favored projects from BITS as possible.
Beach Management Plan: Public outreach is ongoing in advance of the March 17 referendum on the bond borrowing. A mailer or digital Frequently Asked Questions form also is in development.
Future funding for beach management: Beyond the borrowing associated with the March 17 beach referendum, the town’s finance director and staff are working on alternate means by which the town may regularly finance beach projects.